Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 34: Key Personnel at the Regional Cultural Center (Please continue reading)
Inside the literary creation group's office, the group members watched Liu Yimin and Li Lanyong's retreating figures, secretly speculating about their relationship.

Old Zhang glanced at Sun Yihong and said with a smile, "Yihong, Yimin is gone and has no good fortune. Here, pour this little bit from the thermos into my cup."

After Sun Yihong left, Old Zhang seemed to be talking to himself, or perhaps to someone else: "I really don't understand the things young people do. If we don't understand, we don't understand. It's not something we can figure out just by thinking about it. It's best to let nature take its course."

Old Sun took a sip of tea and said casually, "Yes, each generation has its own ideas."

Old Zhang was about to say something when the phone suddenly rang. His expression, which was initially quite good, gradually became serious. After glancing at the members of the creative team, he got up and hurriedly left, riding his bicycle directly to the Revolutionary Committee.

Dongfanghong is the best state-run restaurant in the county, with a wide variety of dishes, especially meat dishes. As the largest state-run restaurant, it receives priority in the allocation of relatively scarce ingredients such as meat.

It tastes good too. In this day and age, people don't have enough oil in their stomachs, so adding more oil makes it taste delicious, let alone meat. As long as it's not too bad, you can eat it.

Upon entering the Dongfanghong Hotel, the counter greeted them, behind which stood two lazy waiters. They glanced at Liu Yimin and Li Lanyong before turning their eyes to the price list above their heads, implying that they should look at what they wanted to eat.

In addition to a large hall, the restaurant also has a second floor. There are seven waiters, all wearing white aprons and white hats. The people dining there are dressed much cleaner and more presentable than most pedestrians outside.

"Stir-fried pork with chili peppers, sausage, two bowls of stew, and six steamed buns, how much is that in total? The meal tickets are only for one jin (500g), if that's not enough, we'll charge you extra."

Stir-fried pork with chili peppers cost 9 cents, sausage cost 8 cents, a bowl of stew cost 5 cents, and a steamed bun cost 5 cents. These were the prices with ration coupons.

"Three pieces." The waiter glanced at the two of them.

Liu Yimin counted the money, then pointed to the soda on the shelf behind the waiter and said, "Two more bottles of soda, Beibingyang."

The meal cost three yuan and fifty cents, which made Li Lanyong's eyelids twitch. This was too extravagant.

"Yimin, after I leave the army, I'll treat you to a meal too," Li Lanyong said happily.

"That will probably have to wait until you come back from your military service to visit your family. I'll already be at school when you leave. How are my parents doing at home?"

While waiting for their food, the two started chatting, but Li Lanyong kept glancing towards the kitchen, swallowing his saliva carefully as he spoke.

"I can't take it anymore, Yimin, don't talk to me. My mouth is full of saliva and my stomach is growling," Li Lanyong said helplessly, slumped over the table.

Li Lanyong had originally intended to go to the kitchen to urge them on, but when he saw the sign that read "No beating customers without cause," he lost heart. He'd heard that the cooks in the kitchen were quite adept at beating customers.

The first dish served was a stew, a specialty of Henan Province. Various vegetables are stir-fried together with pork, topped with a layer of oil, and it tastes particularly good. In rural Henan, this dish is often served to those who come to help at weddings or funerals.

Li Lanyong took a big bite of the soft, warm white steamed bun, leaving a large gash with his teeth marks and some stewed vegetable broth. Liu Yimin was also caught up in the moment, and the two of them started eating in silence.

Only after putting the last piece of green pepper on the table into their mouths did the two put down their chopsticks, smile at each other, drink a mouthful of orange juice, and let out a satisfied burp. The air was still filled with the aroma of stew.

Li Lanyong patted his belly and exclaimed, "Being a writer is great!"

"What? Don't you think joining the army is a good thing?"

"Being a soldier is good, but the food isn't as good as what you eat. In the army, it's often just boiled cabbage in water, and the food allowance is only 45 cents, but you're never short of food. My brother told me that the Air Force has the highest food standards, with the highest food allowance being two or three yuan per communal mess hall, and they eat meat every day."

Li Lanyong could speak fluently and knowledgeably about military matters, all thanks to his brother who told him these things through letters. After finishing their meal, they placed their soda bottles on the counter; empty bottles were recycled for one cent each, and the waiter immediately handed them two cents.

On the way back, Liu Yimin passed by the post office and went in to send another poem to the Poetry Journal. The county post office was large and handled a lot of business, so you had to wait in line for a long time to send a letter.

"Yimin, is this something you just wrote?"

“Yes, but this is poetry, not a novel,” Liu Yimin said with a smile.

"How many words?"

"Not much, only two lines!"

"Two lines?" Li Lanyong scratched his head, stared for a while, and then said, "Two lines, can that be considered a poem?" Although he didn't like reading, he had still attended junior high school.

"Why not? Poetry doesn't have a fixed length; it's all about the content."

Liu Yimin chuckled and said that these two sentences were ones he really liked, sentences he used to really like. If they weren't, he wouldn't have submitted them; the payment, based on the standard rate of 1600 yuan, would only be six yuan.

"Wow, Yimin is amazing!" Li Lanyong exclaimed.

The two returned to the cultural center and placed the mat directly on the floor at noon. They lay on the mat for a nap, which was much cooler than sleeping on the bed.

In the office of the Revolutionary Committee Director, the curator, Old Zhang, frowned deeply. He had heard from Yang Yushan, the director of the Revolutionary Committee, that comrades from the regional cultural center wanted to meet Liu Yimin, but they were unaware that Liu Yimin had already been working at the county cultural center for some time.

This visit was definitely to transfer Liu Yimin to the regional cultural center. Old Zhang was very unwilling; the talent hadn't even been properly acquired, and his file hadn't even been entered into the cultural center yet.

Yang Yushan was also unwilling; the county had finally produced a writer, and now the credit was being taken away.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Old Zhang looked up and said, "Director Yang, it might not be useful for the people from the Municipal Cultural Center to come. Comrade Liu Yimin took the college entrance examination this year, and he's waiting for his results."

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Yushan waved his hand, pursed his lips, and said, "Old Zhang, he won't pass the exam."

"Director Yang, I think..."

“Last time I asked the comrades in the education department to check the college entrance examination scores of the candidates in our county last year, and he scored zero.”

The person in charge of checking the scores only looked at last year's score summary and did not check Liu Yimin's file. If they had checked it, they would have known why he got zero points.

"It can't be that bad, Director Yang, you must be joking. No matter how bad the other things are, the essay should still have some merit." Old Zhang thought Yang Yushan was joking.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes. I suspect he wrote something he shouldn't have, which is why he got a zero on his essay. There were quite a few cases like that last year. Even if you do well on the essay, you still won't pass if the rest of your scores are bad."

Old Zhang calmed down. He kept thinking about Liu Yimin's college entrance examination results. Every time he asked, Liu Yimin always seemed very confident.

did not expect.
It seems the county cultural center can't be kept afloat!

(End of this chapter)